Events in History
Event of Interest
Aug 3 13,000 Air Traffic Controllers (PATCO) begin their strike; US President Ronald Reagan offers ultimatum to workers: 'if they do not report for work within 48 hours, they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated'
- Aug 3 France performs nuclear test in Pacific
- Aug 3 Senegalese opposition parties, under the leadership of Mamadou Dia, launch the Antiimperialist Action Front-Suxxali Reew Mi.
- Aug 4 Columbia mated with SRBs and external tank for STS-2 mission
Event of Interest
Aug 4 Oliver North is assigned to White House duty
- Aug 5 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Aug 5 US President Ronald Reagan fires 11,500 striking air traffic controllers
- Aug 6 Argentine ex-president Isabel Peron freed
- Aug 6 NASA launches US Navy communication system Fltsatcom-5 - fails after being damaged during flight
- Aug 7 "The Washington Star" ceases all operations after 128 years of publication
- Aug 8 At a summit South African Trade Unions resolve to defy apartheid and labour laws
- Aug 9 NL beats AL 5-4 in 52nd All Star Game (Cleveland Stadium)
- Aug 9 Six English lifeguards set relay swim record English Channel (7:17)
- Aug 10 Coca-Cola Bottling Co agrees to pump $34 million into black business
- Aug 10 Richard Nixon Museum in San Clemente, California closes
- Aug 12 IBM introduces its first Personal Computer (PC & PC-DOS version 1.0)
- Aug 12 Jon Erikson (US) becomes 1st to triple cross English Channel (38:27)
- Aug 14 George Foster hits his 8th HR into red seats at Riverfront
- Aug 19 2 US Navy F-14 jet fighters shoot down 2 Soviet-built Libyan SU-22
- Aug 24 American Charles Chapman is 1st black to swim English Channel
- Aug 25 Jeff Schwartz, sets solo record for trampoline bouncing (266:09)
Voyager 2 Spacecraft
Aug 25 Voyager 2's closest approach to Saturn (63,000 miles/100,000 km)
Ronald Reagan is Shot
Aug 28 John Hinckley pleads innocent to attempt to assassinate US President Ronald Reagan
- Aug 28 National Centers for Disease Control announces high incidence of Pneumocystis & Kaposi's sarcoma in gay men
Birthdays in History
- Aug 5 Cory Williams, American internet celebrity (The Mean Kitty Song), born in Merced, California
- Aug 5 Erik Guay, Canadian alpine skier, born in Montreal, Quebec
- Aug 5 Rachel Scott, American murder victim (d. 1999)
- Aug 6 Travis McCoy, American alternative hip-hop artist (Gym Class Heroes), born in Geneva, New York
- Aug 23 Ozzy Lusth, American Survivor contestant, born in Guanajuato, Mexico
- Aug 25 Clare Oliver, Australian cancer activist (d. 2007)
Brian Chesky (42 years old)
Aug 29 American internet entrepreneur (CEO of Airbnb), born in Niskayuna, New York
Deaths in History
- Aug 3 Roberto Peci, Italian brother of Red Brigade leader, murdered at 25
- Aug 15 Humphrey Waldock, British lawyer (UN International Law Commission, 1961-72), and jurist (European Court of Human Rights, 1966-74; International Court of Justice, 1973-81), dies of a heart attack at 77
- Aug 26 Roger Nash Baldwin, American founder of the American Civil Liberties Union, dies at 97
- Aug 30 Mohammad-Ali Rajai, President of Iran (1981), assassinated by a bomb at 48
- Aug 31 Joseph H. Hirschhorn, American financier and art collector (Joseph H. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden), dies at 82
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Inventors
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists